Bareilly Ki Barfi Movie Review

Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari made a confident directorial debut with her first feature film Nil Battey Sannata. Now she’s back with her second film, Bareilly Ki Barfi, which also has a rooted touch to it. Ayushmann Khurrana is back with the second of his three films this year and will he finally get success that is proportional to his talent? Will Kriti Sanon finally get the chance to showcase her acting skills? Will Rajkumar Rao steal the show again? Let’s dissect.

Story: Bitti (Kriti) lives with her parents (Pankaj Tripathi and Seema Pahwa) in Bareilly but she’s always been given the freedom by her father to have a modern city lifestyle which her mother detests. She reads a book titled Bareilly Ki Barfi and falls in love with the book that is ghostwritten by a publisher Chirag Dubey (Ayushmann) but the book has the picture of Pritam Vidrohi (Rajkumar) because Chirag didn’t want to use his own picture. Pritam is a meek mild mannered guy who is trained by Chirag to come across as a loafer to Bitti so that Chirag can win over Bitti. Does it happen? Who does Bitti finally choose? Watch the movie to find out.

Bareilly Ki Barfi Review

Review: Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari crafts a story of small town India with the help of writers Nitish Tiwari and Shreyas Jain, which is an adaptation of a French book. The story moves forward in a lighthearted manner and the film has a casual touch to it which helps it immensely. The jokes and humour aren’t derived from vulgar or crass jokes but from the circumstantial clash of two differently dimensional characters. And it works. Even when Bareilly Ki Barfi moves on to dramatic portions, the lightness doesn’t go away which keeps the smiles flowing. Credit must go to the director and writers for crafting this story which is so very desi in nature. There are hardly any boring moments in the movie.

Bareilly Ki Barfi looks so very authentic because it has been shot on real life locations in and around Bareilly. Nothing can replace shooting scenes in real life locations. The cinematography is smart and so is the natural production design. The costume design is stylish and yet very authentic. The editing is also nifty because none of the scenes linger on for longer than they are required. The music is good for the genre. And songs like Twist Kamariya, Nazm Nazm and Sweety Tera Drama all add an extra amount of flavour to this sweet film.

Acting: Kriti Sanon gives her career’s best performance thus far in Bareilly Ki. She’s the lifeline of the film and keeps the other characters together. Having shown glimpses of her acting in the movie, we hope she gets more films like these. Ayushmann Khurrana is the most underrated leading actor in the industry today and here again he plays a seemingly grey character with a lot of charm and even makes you root for him. Rajkumar Rao is dependably good and his transformation from a meek saree salesman to a cool guy is hilarious. The chemistry between Rajkumar and Ayushmann is one of the highlights of this film. Pankaj Tripathi is endearing as Bitti’s father and Seema Pahwa is a solid performer.

Conclusion: Bareilly Ki Barfi is a heartwarming throwback to the sort of movies that Basu Chatterjee and Sai Paranjpye used to make. It is likeable, casual and still makes important points about woman empowerment (although it is very subtle and doesn’t even need to be mentioned in the film). And it is funny. The trio of lead actors share a fun vibe with each other and with the rest of the cast. Bareilly Ki Barfi is one of those delectable sweet appetizers that is enough to warm the heart on a rainy gloomy day. Must watch!

Reasons to watch the film:

• Ayushmann and Rajkumar’s competitive chemistry
• Kriti Sanon’s career best performance
• Good music
• Rootedness shown through cinematography and production design
• It is funny and can be enjoyed by the whole family

Some negatives:

• The dramatic portions should have been less predictable
• The background score needed a bit more zing to it

Rating: